The spiral of silence and why we try to avoid it

The term spiral of silence was coined by German survey and communication researcher Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann back in the 1960s and 70s. The theory refers to the idea that in a societal grouping, people may choose to isolate a member if they disagree with that person's beliefs or opinions. It is largely believed that people's willingness to express their thoughts and opinions on controversial subjects can be strongly affected by their unconscious opinions of whether their ideas will be popular or not with others. 

This means, in more simple terms, that typically if someone subconsciously believes that their opinion is not going to be preferred by the masses, they are far more likely to share how they feel. Similarly, the spiral of silence states how if these people do choose to speak up against the opinions of others, they are likely to be shut out by the group of people that disagree with their beliefs.

As one can assume, there is a psychological effect that tends to take a toll on the people who are and are not isolated in these situations. For instance, the person whose ideas are chastised is more likely to feel reluctant over time about their opinions, while the ones who are praised become even more confident about their beliefs. When this effect is done over and over again throughout society, it starts to create long term effects on societal decision making on issues that are controversial over time, as explained by Petersen. 

Some key elements to the theory of the spiral of silence include the fact that most people do have a natural response of fearing isolation from their peers. This often causes people to be monitoring the choices of others in order to see whether people respond positively or negatively to these claims, to then be able to self-evaluate their own beliefs before sharing them with anyone else. 

In order to avoid isolation, people often hold back from sharing their opinions on controversial topics when they believe that the reactions to these statements would be scornful or invoke criticism. On the other hand, for people who are confident that their ideas will be agreed upon, or for those who suffer from narcissism and believe everything they think to be true, they will be the first to fearlessly share their opinions with the group.

What is important to note with the theory of the spiral of silence is that it only comes into play with regards to controversial topics that invoke a moral component. For something more abstract, like a person's favorite color, this will not cause society to want to isolate an individual even if everyone's favorite is blue and one person's favorite is red. For this theory to be observed, the topics of conversation must involve a concept that brings out strong feelings of morality and/or the self. 

In the end, this theory sheds light on something we've all probably known about ourselves, which is the fact that we do not want to be shut out by society for the things we believe. This is why many people prefer to keep quiet about their opinions when really the best option for us all would be to find a way to accept each other, or for those who need it, learn to reason and bring them peacefully to believe in new ideas.